Every culture has their own unique wedding traditions and sometimes they can be a bit strange or quirky to a someone who's never heard of such a thing. Recently, I was lucky enough to witness a traditional South Indian wedding and decided to share some of the stranger traditions and practices that take place before and after the ceremony. Just a quick disclaimer, because of the cultural differences within India itself this list doesn't apply to everybody but the ones I picked are the most common traditions.
1. The bride can't enter the groom's house before the wedding
It's considered a taboo for the bride to step foot into the groom's house before they're married. Since most marriages in India are arranged between the families the groom's family comes to the bride's house for an official visit normally including extended family as well as elders. After the wedding ceremony, the new bride is ushered into her new home by her mother-in-law and several onlookers. A lamp is lighted before she enters and can't go out before she enters the house. She enters with her right foot and her mother-in-law blesses her(the ceremony is a bit different depending on whether you're Hindu or Christian).
2. Dowry of Gold
Before the wedding the bride's family visits a gold store and collects several pieces of jewelry: necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings, anklets, and so on depending on how much they can afford. The jewelry is considered the bride's dowry and careful planning and consideration is put into choosing what to buy. Recently, it's become more popular for brides to wear diamonds instead of gold(including the bride at the wedding I attended).
3. White and Red Sarees and thread
A long held tradition is that the bride wears a white gown or saree like western brides but then near the end of the wedding ceremony the groom drapes a red saree brought by his family on the bride's head. Then after the ceremony, she leaves the church wearing the red saree with which she'll enter the groom's house. Some groups go as far as to have the bride change all her jewels as well, the belief is that by wearing a dress chosen by them the bride truly becomes theirs. Another tradition involving red and white are the strings threaded together by the groom's family. The strings will hold a small locket that the groom will tie around the bride's neck, this locket is considered even more important than the wedding ring and is worn at all times. Eventually she won't be able to use the thin piece of string and will wear the locket on a gold chain.
4. Sugar party
Right before the wedding, both the bride and the groom's families each hold a quirky practice in their households. The groom or bride sits down while members of the family come and feed him or her sugar and sweets in celebration of the upcoming wedding.
5. The wedding gifts
Unlike in the US where wedding gifts normally include household items and things the new couple can make use of, in India the wedding guests don't normally give the couple presents. However, the relatives will except instead of household goods the gifts are normally more jewelry which is put on the bride and groom directly by the family instead of being wrapped and opened at their leisure.
